At the end of August one of our newest Priest
Associates,
Fr. Giacomo Capoverdi (standing with me in photo
on left), arranged for a speaking trip for me to his
home diocese of Providence, Rhode Island. The trip
was marked by meetings with the Governor, various
state legislators, a lot of priests, and many of the
faithful activists in the pro-life movement.

It was also marked by conversation with
“abortion-rights” supporters in Providence. I firmly
believe in the value of such dialogue, which does
not at all compromise our position on abortion, but
rather follows the approach of the Lord Jesus who
ate with sinners.

On Saturday morning, we had a scheduled Mass
followed by a procession to the abortion facility.
The day before this event, we were alerted by the
local police that there were some security concerns.
In fact, the police conducted a bomb sweep of St.
Paul’s – where I was scheduled to say Mass – at
three o’clock in the morning! Police officials told
us about a radical group George Soros funds.
That group is called OSI and stands for The Open
Society Institute. According to the police OSI
is known for using violence and threats of violence
to intimidate individuals and organizations that
oppose their extremist anti-life agenda. The police
took action because of the amount and tone of email
correspondence among OSI members. It was
thought that as many as 300 ruffians would descend
on Cranston in an attempt to intimidate us and
possible do bodily harm.

As it turned out, a total of 11 pro-abortion
demonstrators showed up! We did, however, have
police officers at every door of the Church
throughout the Mass, and all around the abortion
mill. The police did a great job. The pro-abortion
demonstrators, by contrast, did nothing but yell and
scream the whole time. Would you believe this: when
I met with the abortion supporters who were willing
to talk with me the night before, they said that we
in the pro-life movement just yell and scream when
we go to the abortion mill!!

One of the most memorable moments that morning was
when the pro-abortion demonstrators started
chanting, “Pavone, go home! Pavone, go home!” In
response, the pro-life people began their own chant,
“Pavone IS home!” And that describes exactly how I
feel in every community, from coast to coast, when I
gather with defenders of life! That’s why I never
get tired of my constant travels.
See more photos from our Rhode Island trip.

Meanwhile, back in Texas…

Priests for Life held a retreat in
Amarillo, TX for pro-life leaders.
Left, they witness for life in front of
Planned Parenthood. Click here
to view more photos of the retreat.

As the pro-aborts were fuming about what we
were doing in Rhode Island, their counterparts
in Amarillo were also fretting about the
presence of Priests for Life. For example,
Claudia travato, CEO of Planned Parenthood of
Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle, said: “The
number of protestors has significantly increased
and the nature of the protests has intensified.
... [T]he group's activities threaten Planned
Parenthood's operation.” Mike Wagner, associate
director of Planned Parenthood’s Security Group,
gave this glowing testimony to Priests for
Life’s effectiveness: “The number of protesters
has jumped dramatically since [Priests for Life]
came to Amarillo — from just a few to more than
70 at a time.”

Planned Parenthood built a new security fence
around their Amarillo facility, and the CEO
complained to me about how much money they had
to divert from “health care” in order to do it.
As you can imagine, when that’s Planned
Parenthood talking, I’m not going to lose any
sleep over it.

And while Planned Parenthood does all this
complaining, we have welcomed our first group of
men who are joining the new community that
Priests for Life is establishing, the
Missionaries of the Gospel of Life. On Sunday,
October 16 we had an opening Mass with Bishop
John Yanta. The men have a daily routine of
prayer, study, classes, work, recreation, and
pro-life activity. Our meals are taken in common
each day, and every weekend the men go to one of
the parishes of the Amarillo diocese, along with
one of our Priests for Life priests, to learn
how to conduct a “Priests for Life Parish
Weekend,” which they will some day do as priests
themselves throughout the nation.

Two by Two

Jim Pinto, Pastoral Associate

Prior to the 2004 elections, our pastoral team
decided that one of the best ways to encourage our
brother priests around the country was to visit them
face to face. Relying on the biblical example of
Jesus sending forth his disciples in pairs, we
called this the “Two by Two” project. Two of us at a
time go into a particular city and just knock on the
doors of every Church, asking to spend a few moments
chatting with the priest. It works in a marvelous
way. The priests are very happy to have a visit, and
we give them encouragement and resources for
carrying out pro-life preaching and activities in
their parish.

Fr. Giacomo Capoverdi and Fr. Jim Heyd have been
doing Two-by-twos in Minnesota during October. Our
pastoral associate Jim Pinto, who is also on
Two-by-two assignment in October along with Fr.
Peter West, writes the following about this exciting
and successful project:

“I have always admired those early Methodist
preachers known as “Circuit Riders” who tirelessly
traveled near and far declaring the Gospel to a
multitude of congregations. It seems to me that the
present day “Circuit Riders” are Priest’s for Life
clergy and pastoral associates. This became
especially evident during our parish visitations
last year. I recall Fr. Capoverdi and me declaring
the Gospel of Life to as many as 13 parishes in one
day (Pensacola, Fl.). There was also a 4 to 5 day
mission, when the two parish teams combined for over
50 life-equipping parish visits, in two separate
parts of the country.

“No, the former Methodist Circuit Riders have
nothing over the current Catholic Circuit Riders of
Priests for Life, who with urgency and passion
proclaim the Gospel of Life in villages, towns,
cities, and parishes just like yours.”

Circuit Riding for Life,
Jim Pinto, Pastoral Associate

The Catholic Press

Back in May, Priests for Life was again present
at the Catholic Press Association (CPA) conference,
and we presented once again our “Bernardin-O’Connor
Award for Pro-life Journalism.” It is part of the
special mission of Priests for Life to be present to
a wide variety of apostolates and ministries in the
Church, because we exist to encourage and equip the
whole Church to be more effective advocates for the
unborn. To equip the Church at every level means
that you have to be present to the Church at every
level. And therefore we go to a lot of conferences,
with our booth, our materials, our presentations,
and our networking, from morning to night, to get to
know those who are doing so much good ministry.

In the case of CPA, of which we are also members, we
have the opportunity to interact with editors and
reporters from diocesan papers, Catholic magazines,
and other publications nationwide. We thank them for
giving us so much coverage and, in many cases, for
running my bi-weekly column in their papers.

In 2005, we were delighted to have Bobby Schindler
(Terri Schiavo’s brother - in photo on right) with
us as we presented the journalism award. Both he and
I shared with the editors and reporters what it was
like to be in Terri’s room as she was dying, and
what has to be done now so that her death will not
be in vain.
Click here to view more photos of the CPA
convention.

Breast Cancer Survivor and Mom

Many of you are now seeing our TV programs on the
Sky Angel satellite system, and in our recent taping
of those shows we had Charnette Messe and her two
children as guests. Charnette had an abortion and
then developed breast cancer; she speaks about the
link between the two. Her son, with us on the show,
was in her womb while she was receiving
chemotherapy, and is living proof that battling
cancer and carrying a baby can be done successfully
at the same time.

Crisis Magazine Award

I’m sure that many of you are readers of Crisis
magazine. I was happy to accept an award from them
in September, in recognition of my pro-life work.
The dinner in Washington DC fell on the night that
we finished a week of taping our new Defending Life
series at EWTN. My parents were also in attendance,
as were dignitaries from the White House and the US
Congress.

I spoke to the crowd about “the pulpits’ red glare.”
Our nation took birth from the fiery preaching of
those who reminded its first citizens that our
rights come from God, not from government. I told
the assembled guests that America today must defend
the rights of the unborn through clear and vigorous
preaching from the pulpit that the rights of unborn
children cannot be taken away by government, and
that the Church has to call upon voters to elect
pro-life candidates, without fear and without
apology.
View more photos of the Crisis Magazine Awards.

Walkers Welcome!

As I was traversing the country, our Associate
Director Janet Morana was doing trips of her own
that included gatherings of the Silent No More
Awareness Campaign. These courageous women give
witness to how their abortion hurt them and how the
Lord Jesus healed them. Their signs, “I Regret My
Abortion,” spoke to many people. Janet herself has
had abortions – not surgical, but chemical abortions
brought about by “birth control” pills. She and Dr.
Theresa Burke have written a book about the grief
that more and more women experience as they realize
that their birth control actually caused early
abortions. Women who suffer in this way are likewise
“Silent no more.”
Click here for more photos.

Blessing Terri’s Grave

I had the opportunity in September to bless the
grave of Terri Schiavo, as some of her family
members and I visited the site where she is buried.
The inscription her stone, placed there by her
estranged husband Michael, is a blasphemy against
human life, as the
pictures here will show you. The flowers that we
placed at her grave reminded me of the flowers that
were inches away from Terri in her room as she was
dying of dehydration – flowers that were immersed in
water.

Silent No More Awareness

As I was traversing the country, our Associate
Director Janet Morana was doing trips of her own
that included gatherings of the Silent No More
Awareness Campaign. These courageous women give
witness to how their abortion hurt them and how the
Lord Jesus healed them. Their signs, “I Regret My
Abortion,” spoke to many people. Janet herself has
had abortions – not surgical, but chemical abortions
brought about by “birth control” pills. She and Dr.
Theresa Burke have written a book about the grief
that more and more women experience as they realize
that their birth control actually caused early
abortions. Women who suffer in this way are likewise
“Silent no more.”
Click here for more photos.

Congratulations, Joe Scheidler!

Janet and I took two of the men who have been
accepted to the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life
on a trip to Chicago to join Joe Scheidler, National
Director of the Pro-life Action League, for the 25th
Anniversary celebration of that organization. It was
festive and enjoyable, even as it recalled
graphically for the assembled guests the nature of
the abortion evil we are fighting. The activities of
the League have inspired me from the earliest days
of my own pro-life activism, and Priests for Life is
always proud to be associated with Joe Scheidler.
View more photos of the anniversary celebration.

Healing in Iowa

In a display of effective collaboration, the four
dioceses of the state of Iowa joined forces and had
Priests for Life come in for a few days of training
offered to the clergy and laity, as well as
preaching in parishes and a life chain. On the
second weekend of October, Theresa and Kevin Burke
and I spent time in Iowa, teaching the priests about
Rachel’s Vineyard and post-abortion healing. The
next day, at a seminar for the laity, I spoke about
the connection between all the “life issues,” and
emphasized – as the Pope and bishops do – that the
foundation of all these “issues” is the right to
life itself.
See more photos here!

You Can Save Someone’s Life Today!

Each year, as “Respect Life Sunday” draws near in
October, Priests for Life offers to parishes
throughout the nation a four-page bulletin insert
called “You Can Save Someone’s Life Today.” It
contains basic facts about abortion as well as
dozens of suggested activities. It provides people
with the life-saving telephone numbers for
alternatives to abortion and healing after abortion.

This year we had a greater response than ever before
from the parishes across the country. We sent out
over 150.000 of these bulletin inserts, free of
charge, to the pastors who requested them. Our
future seminarians for the new community helped the
staff in our Resource department to mail out the
many boxes of these inserts!
Click here to view more pictures of our efforts!